'Life & Style' Goes Back to the Future

Okay, I take it back. Bauer Publishing isn't going to fold Life & Style Weekly -- not right away, at least.

Richard Spencer insists that his installation as editor in chief of the magazine isn't just a prelude to merging it with In Touch, its more successful sister title, which he also edits, as has been rumored.

It's part of a plan to differentiate L&S within the crowded celebrity-weekly category by making its primary focus fashion rather than gossip.

"In the past, the magazine sort of had a split personality -- you read a little fashion here, and then you read a little news here. There was a constant balancing act of 'Is it too much style? Is it too much news?'" he says.

"Now I've grouped all the style together in one powerful section. I'm trying to find within the pages a real confidence that we can just talk style."

That sounds good -- as good as it sounded three years ago, when Life & Style launched with Hollywood fashion as its mission statement. The focus quickly shifted to gossip, however, as it became clear that following celebrity hookups and breakups was the fastest way to increase circulation.

Spencer acknowledges the tension between the two subjects. "You have to grab them with the news on the cover -- that's what gets the readership. Once they're inside the magazine, you can really deliver on a better style package."

He adds, however, that the gossip part of the equation will be fine-tuned as well -- not a bad idea, given Life & Style's reputation for, well, making shit up wholesale. "I think the editorial's going to be more sound and I think it's going to be more believable than it has been in the past," he says.

Spencer says he'd like to push Life & Style's circulation to 1 million - "It's kind of a magical number" -- from its current level of 750,000. Considering the magazine is simultaneously increasing its cover price by 50 percent, from $1.99 to $2.99, that's beyond ambitious. Some skeptics think -- okay, I think -- that in the face of a hike that big, Life & Style's price-sensitive readership will almost certainly shrink, not grow.

Naturally, Spencer disagrees. "My feeling too about price is if you're interested in celebrity news, it's a very intoxicating world to be in to know what's next with Britney or Angelina. And you don't stop your obsession because of a dollar more. You don't put a price tag on an obsession."